Amos 2:6-3:8.
This week's haftorah contains an allusion to the sale of Joseph by his brothers, an
incident discussed in this week's Torah reading.
Amos opens with a rebuke to the Jewish People. G‑d had been patient with them notwithstanding their transgression of the three
cardinal sins -- sexual impropriety, idolatry and murder. Their fourth sin,
however, crossed the line -- the mistreatment of the innocent, widows, orphans and
the poor.
G‑d reminds the Jewish people how He lovingly took them out of Egypt and led
them through the desert for forty years and settled them in the Holy Land. There, He bestowed the gift of prophecy on some and
inspired others to become Nazirites. Yet the Jewish people did not respond appropriately, giving wine to the Nazirites and
instructing the prophets not to prophesy. Amos then goes on to describe G‑d's punishment for the errant behavior: "And the stout-hearted among the mighty shall flee naked on that day, says the L-rd."
The haftorah ends with an admonition from G‑d, one that also recalls His
eternal love for His people: "Hearken to this word which the Lord spoke about you, O children of Israel,
concerning the entire nation that I brought up from the land of Egypt. 'Only you did I love above all the families of the earth; therefore, I will visit upon you all your iniquities…'"
As opposed to other nations to whom G-d does not pay close attention, G-d's love
for His nation causes Him to punish them for their misdeeds, to cleanse them and
prod them back onto the path of the just.
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